WASHINGTON — As President-elect Donald Trump assembles his administration, Republican governors and lawmakers in some states are already rolling out proposals that could help him carry out his pledge to deport millions of people living in the U.S. illegally.
Lawmakers in a growing number of states are proposing to give local law officers the power to arrest people who entered the country illegally, mirroring recent laws in Texas and elsewhere that have been placed on hold while courts weigh whether they unconstitutionally usurp federal authority.
Other legislation filed ahead of next year's legislative sessions would require local law enforcement agencies to notify federal immigration officials when they take someone into custody who is in the country illegally, even if the charges have nothing to do with their immigration status. Though not specifically requested by Trump, many of the state proposals would complement his immigration policies.
"We would be finding people who are in violation of this law, and we would be sort of hand-delivering them to the nearest port of deportation so that they could be removed in a safe and orderly fashion,” said Missouri state Sen. Curtis Trent, who is sponsoring one of the proposals.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimates that 11 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the U.S. as of 2022, the latest statistics available. While campaigning, Trump talked about creating “the largest mass deportation program in history" and called for using the National Guard and domestic police forces in the effort.
Some Democratic-led states already are raising resistance. The California Legislature has convened a special session to try to shield people from potential Trump policies, including by boosting legal aid for immigrants facing deportation.
Lawmakers in numerous states are likely to try to thwart or cooperate with Trump's immigration agenda, Tim Storey, CEO of the National Conference of State Legislatures, said Monday.
In Missouri, Trent's bill would empower local law officers to arrest people for a new state crime of "improper entry by an alien," punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and a court-ordered ride to the U.S. border.
A separate bill by Missouri state Sen.-elect David Gregory would offer a $1,000 reward to informants who tip off police about people in the country illegally and allow private bounty hunters to find and detain them.
Missouri's Republican Gov.-elect Mike Kehoe hasn't endorsed a specific legislative plan after campaigning against illegal immigration and the scourge of fentanyl smuggled across the U.S. border. But he told The Associated Press: “If they’re here illegally, it definitely should trigger something more than it does now."
Immigrant advocacy groups already are raising alarm about some state proposals. Missouri's proposed bounty system would “create absolute chaos and division,” said Ashley DeAzevedo, president of American Families United, which advocates for U.S. citizens married to foreign nationals.
Although many Americans support a path to citizenship for people living in the U.S. illegally, support for deportation also has grown. More than 4 in 10 voters said most immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally should be deported to the country they came from, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters in this year’s election. That's up from about 3 in 10 in 2020. More than half of voters said most immigrants in the U.S. illegally should be offered a chance to apply for legal status, down from about 7 in 10 who said this in 2020, according to AP VoteCast.
Many Republicans point to Texas as a model for immigration enforcement. Its $11 billion Operation Lone Star program has erected razor wire and other barriers along the Mexican border, stationed state troopers and Texas National Guard members in border towns and bused thousands of migrants to Democratic-led “sanctuary cities” such as New York, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Washington. Texas law officers also have made tens of thousands of arrests, including many for trespassing on private property.
Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” visited Texas last month and said its border security tactics can be a model for the Trump administration. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office confirmed that it’s been in regular contact with Trump's team about strategies.
Following Texas' lead, Republican-led legislatures in Iowa, Louisiana and Oklahoma passed measures allowing law officers to arrest people who are in the U.S. illegally. Shortly after Trump’s election, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced he was working on a plan to deport some of the more than 500 immigrants currently in Oklahoma prisons who are not legal citizens.
Arizona voters last month also approved a ballot measure letting local police arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering from Mexico, though it won't kick in until a similar law in Texas or another state has been in effect for 60 consecutive days.
Other Republican state measures seek to boost cooperation between local law officers and federal immigration officials.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox recently announced an initiative to improve coordination with federal officials to identify undocumented immigrants in the state's criminal justice system and turn them over for deportation. Cox said there will be “zero tolerance” for "those who demonstrate a threat to public safety while in the country illegally.”
A Georgia law enacted earlier this year requires jailers to check the immigration status of inmates and apply to help enforce federal immigration laws. The measure gained traction after the murder of University of Georgia student Laken Riley. A Venezuelan man who had entered the U.S. illegally was convicted of killing her and sentenced to life in prison.
North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature last month overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to enact a law directing sheriffs to comply with federal immigration agents’ requests to hold inmates. That came after several Democratic sheriffs from urban counties refused to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Other Democratic governors dealing with Republican-led legislatures are pushing back against the potential for sweeping deportation plans. Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she supports deporting people who commit crimes while living in the U.S. illegally, but she won’t send out the National Guard to help enforce federal immigration laws.
Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, who also faces a Republican-led Legislature, said undocumented immigrants “are a really important part of our economy" in sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.
"Trying to move them out of the country is irrational,” Evers said. "So, we’ll do whatever we can to avoid that.”
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Associated Press polling editor Amelia Thomson-Deveaux in Washington and writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin; Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
